Interactive Achievement Awards Announced: Modern Warfare wins GOTY

Source

Overall Game of the Year
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Infinity Ward)
Rock Band (MTV Games, Harmonix)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Nintendo)
The Orange Box (Electronic Arts/Valve Software, Valve Software)

Console Game of the Year
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Infinity Ward)
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios, BioWare)
Rock Band (MTV Games, Harmonix)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Nintendo)

Computer Game of the Year
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Infinity Ward)
Crysis (Electronic Arts, Crytek)
The Orange Box (Electronic Arts/Valve Software, Valve Software)
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Vivendi Games, Blizzard Entertainment)

Handheld Game of the Year
Drawn to Life (THQ, 5th Cell)
Jeanne d'Arc (SCEA, Level 5)
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (D3 Publisher, Infinite Interactive, 1st Playable Productions)
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters (SCEA, High Impact Games)
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo, Nintendo)

Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year
EVE Online: Trinity (CCP, CCP)
Guild Wars: Eye of the North (NCsoft, AreaNet)
Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa (NCsoft, Destination Games)
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (Midway, Turbine)
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Vivendi Games, Blizzard Entertainment)

Action Game of the Year
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Infinity Ward)
Crysis (Electronic Arts, Crytek)
Halo 3 (Microsoft Game Studios, Bungie Studios)
The Orange Box (Electronic Arts/Valve Software, Valve Software)

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (Namco Bandai Games America, Namco Bandai Games)
Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Electronic Arts, EA LA)
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (THQ, Relic)
Supreme Commander (THQ, Gas Powered Games)
World in Conflict (Vivendi Games, Massive Entertainment)

Sports Game of the Year
FIFA Soccer 08 (Electronic Arts (Electronic Arts)
MLB 07: The Show (SCEA, SCE San Diego)
NBA 2K8 (2K Sports, Visual Concepts)
NHL 08 (Electronic Arts, EA Canada)
skate. (Electronic Arts, EA Black Box)

Adventure Game of the Year
Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
God of War II (SCEA, Sony Computer Entertainment Santa Monica)
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (SCEA, Insomniac Games)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Nintendo)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA, Naughty Dog)

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Rock Band (MTV Games, Harmonix)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Nintendo)
The Orange Box (Electronic Arts/Valve Software, Valve Software)

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Infinity Ward)
Rock Band (MTV Games, Harmonix)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Nintendo)
The Orange Box: Portal (Electronic Arts/Valve, Valve)

Racing Game of the Year
DiRT (Codemasters, Codemasters)
Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft Game Studios, Turn 10 Studios)
Motorstorm (SCEA, Evolution Studios)
Need For Speed Pro Street (Electronic Arts, EA Black Box)
Project Gotham Racing 4 (Microsoft Game Studios, Bizarre Creations)

Role-Playing Game of the Year
Eternal Sonata (Namco Bandai Games America, Tri-Crescendo)
Jeanne d'Arc (SCEA, Level 5)
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios, BioWare)
Rogue Galaxy (SCEA, Level 5)
The Witcher (Atari, CDProjekt Red)

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Infinity Ward)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Paris, Red Storm)
skate. (Electronic Arts, EA Black Box)
Need for Speed ProStreet (Electronic Arts, EA Black Box)

Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Guitar Hero III (Activision, Neversoft)
Rock Band (MTV Games, Harmonix)
Singstar POP (SCEA, SCEE London Studio)
skate. (Electronic Arts, EA Black Box)

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
BioShock (2K Games (2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA, Naughty Dog)
God of War II (SCEA, SCE Santa Monica)
Heavenly Sword (SCEA, Ninja Theory)
Lair (SCEA, Factor 5)

Downloadable Game of the Year
Azada (Big Fish Games, Big Fish Games)
Build-a-Lot (HipSoft, HipSoft)
flOw (SCEA, That Game Company)
Peggle (PopCap, PopCap)
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (D3 Publisher, Infinite Interactive, 1st Playable Productions)

Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Infinity Ward)
Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft Game Studios, Turn 10 Studios)
Halo 3 (Microsoft Game Studios, Bungie Studios)
Rock Band (MTV Games, Harmonix)
World in Conflict (Vivendi Games, Massive Entertainment)

Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering
Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
Rock Band (MTV Games, Harmonix)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo, Nintendo)
The Orange Box: Portal (Electronic Arts/Valve Software, Valve Software)

Outstanding Achievement in Story Development
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Drawn to Life (THQ, 5th Cell)
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios, BioWare)
The Darkness (2K Games, Starbreeze Studios)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA, Naughty Dog)

Outstanding Character Performance
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Heavenly Sword (SCEA, Ninja Theory)
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios, BioWare)
The Orange Box: Portal (Electronic Arts/Valve Software, Valve Software)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA, Naughty Dog)

Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering
Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Infinity Ward)
Crysis (Electronic Arts, Crytek)
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (SCEA, Insomniac Games)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA, Naughty Dog)

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
BioShock (2K Games, 2K Boston, 2K Australia)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Infinity Ward)
Heavenly Sword (SCEA, Ninja Theory)
The Orange Box: Team Fortress 2 (Electronic Arts/Valve Software, Valve Software)

Outstanding Achievement in Animation
Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Infinity Ward)
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (SCEA, Insomniac Games)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA, Naughty Dog)
The Orange Box: Team Fortress 2 (Electronic Arts/Valve Software, Valve Software)

Family Game of the Year
Guitar Hero III (Activision, Neversoft)
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montpellier)
Rock Band (MTV Games, Harmonix)
Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action (Microsoft Games Studios, Screenlife)
WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo, Nintendo)

Other than Motorstorm winning best racing game, (which is absolutely ridiculous) I don't have any problem with the awards.

Thoughts?

I agree with you, though I haven't played Motorstorm I don't get how a barebones racing game manages to beat Forza 2 a game with so much content and depth, that offer customizations, tweaks to your cars and much more. I guess the game is niche or not for everybody (hardcore)

Edit: How about fighting game of the year?. I'm surprised Call of Duty 4 won so many awards. Nintendo fans are going to be outraged :P

Any award show that doesn't realize it put five action games in the adventure category is meaningless by default to me. Either way, this seems like nothing more than a popularity contest than anything else.

Any award show that doesn't realize it put five action games in the adventure category is meaningless by default to me. Either way, this seems like nothing more than a popularity contest than anything else.

UpInFlames

But they are action/adventure games.Solid_Snake_7

Exactly. Action/adventure is a sub-genre of the action genre. Adventure is a completely seperate genre.

I agree with you, though I haven't played Motorstorm I don't get how a barebones racing game manages to beat Forza 2 a game with so much content and depth, that offer customizations, tweaks to your cars and much more. I guess the game is niche or not for everybody (hardcore)

Edit: How about fighting game of the year?. I'm surprised Call of Duty 4 won so many awards. Nintendo fans are going to be outraged :P

D3s7rUc71oN

Motorstorm is a superb racing game. Like I said when it came out, its kind of like a mix of Burnout, Road Rash and Sega Rally. Its a wildly over the top racer which offers tracks which often offer motorcycles atvs, semis, SUVs dune buggies, heavy trucks and cars the same chance at victory. The high quality of the core gameplay makes online play tremendously entertaining since giving an opponent a gentle nudge (or heck, a hard push) into a wall or over a cliff is always good for a laugh, and punching a fellow biker off his or her vehicle never gets old.

Granted, the load times are overly long and the game shipped with too few modes but that aside...

Forza 2 is a fine sim (the most popular type of racers, thought that may be changing) but its an extremely conservative sequel (even the graphics aren't a big step up).

Most of the awards/nominations are within the bounds of reason, but the rpg nominations/awards are a bad joke. No nomination for Persona 3 or Soul Nomad, but nominations for high profile but low quality games such as Mass Effect (which shipped months before it was done) and Rogue Galaxy (an unambitious Kingdom Hearts clone)?CarnageHeart

Rogue Galaxy ain't that bad. It's more fun than good, which is what's important IMO.

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]Most of the awards/nominations are within the bounds of reason, but the rpg nominations/awards are a bad joke. No nomination for Persona 3 or Soul Nomad, but nominations for high profile but low quality games such as Mass Effect (which shipped months before it was done) and Rogue Galaxy (an unambitious Kingdom Hearts clone)?ASK_Story

Rogue Galaxy ain't that bad. It's more fun than good, which is what's important IMO.

I don't know what you mean by more fun than good, but the button mashing and the extremely weak friendly AI bored me. I expect better of Level 5.

[QUOTE="ASK_Story"]

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]Most of the awards/nominations are within the bounds of reason, but the rpg nominations/awards are a bad joke. No nomination for Persona 3 or Soul Nomad, but nominations for high profile but low quality games such as Mass Effect (which shipped months before it was done) and Rogue Galaxy (an unambitious Kingdom Hearts clone)?CarnageHeart

Rogue Galaxy ain't that bad. It's more fun than good, which is what's important IMO.

I don't know what you mean by more fun than good, but the button mashing and the extremely weak friendly AI bored me. I expect better of Level 5.

Maybe my explanation was wrong, but what I mean is that for a so-so RPG it was still pretty fun to play.

But I do agree, the battle system does get tiring after awhile. Also, I personally didn't like some of the character designs. The story was generic RPG flair.

But other than those things, I think the game is worth playing because of the no-loading during battles and amazing artistic designs of the environment and the world.

I'm still amazed that people praise call of duty 4 in to heavens all the time. Also I didn't really expect C&C3 to win best strategy game. If you look at it from another perspective, you could say that this is indeed the result of a popularity contest. Also they're pretty inconsistent with rewards. They give COD4 GOTY over orange box, but they give orange box PCGOTY over COD4. I thought the versions were all identical?11Marcel

I disagree with you.....why are u praising orange box......Its just a compilation of older games which means Orange Box doesn't even qualify for any nominations.......Ofcourse Portal is Amazing I also love it.......but I don't compare Orange Box with Call Of Duty 4..........And speaking of these two........Neither Call Of Duty 4 nor Orange Box should have won the PCGOTY. I think Crysis truly deserves PCGOTY.......:cry:

But I agree with you regarding C&C3 i expected World In Conflict to win the StrategyGOTY.......:)

Most of the awards/nominations are within the bounds of reason, but the rpg nominations/awards are a bad joke. No nomination for Persona 3 or Soul Nomad, but nominations for high profile but low quality games such as Mass Effect (which shipped months before it was done) and Rogue Galaxy (an unambitious Kingdom Hearts clone)?CarnageHeart

Seriously, I haven't played ME, and I've heard nothing but the utmost praise for it. By now, I've learned that "utmost praise" doesn't always tell the whole tale. What was missing or unpolished in ME?

Motorstorm is a superb racing game. Like I said when it came out, its kind of like a mix of Burnout, Road Rash and Sega Rally. Its a wildly over the top racer which offers tracks which often offer motorcycles atvs, semis, SUVs dune buggies, heavy trucks and cars the same chance at victory. The high quality of the core gameplay makes online play tremendously entertaining since giving an opponent a gentle nudge (or heck, a hard push) into a wall or over a cliff is always good for a laugh, and punching a fellow biker off his or her vehicle never gets old.

Granted, the load times are overly long and the game shipped with too few modes but that aside...

CarnageHeart

I couldn't agree with you more. Once I really sunk my teeth into the core gameplay, Motor Storm revealed itself to be an amazingly satisfying experience. What's telling to me is how much slander this game has taken for being bare bones yet nobody ever seems to focus on the core mechanics, which really are the most important part of any game.

I guess extra features and ancillary modes are more important to some than actual gameplay. That's fine, but I would rather have the quality where it counts.

What I don't understand is how the Orange Box can go up against Call of Duty 4 and not win. Seriously, 30+ hours of single player, the best online multiplayer to date and a unique, hilarious and totally innovative puzzle game.

COD4 is just another rehashed shooter. Portal and TF2 are something different entirely. I guess Heavy needs to go in and teach them how to not outsmart bullet.foxhound_fox

I think the OB is one of the best values ever put to disc but COD4 is anything but a rehash.

[QUOTE="UpInFlames"][QUOTE="Solid_Snake_7"]But they are action/adventure games.dvader654

Exactly. Action/adventure is a sub-genre of the action genre. Adventure is a completely seperate genre.

Action/adventure is the main genre, action is a sub genre of it. Adventure games you speak of, the point and click kind are its own genre.

Action isn't a sub genre of anything, and realistically, Action/Adventure isn't a sub-genre, either, but simply an alternate genre that came as a natural progression of developers using elements of action games and adventure games in a single title, if I'm not mistaken.

COD4 huh? Great game, I pop it in for some deathmatch action all the time. They managed to do what most of these shooters with online multi-player fail to do; make sure it has high fun factor.

I wouldn't pick it for GOTY though. Single-player wasn't good enough for that imo. I guess in a year with so many high quality games, it really all comes down to prefered style. Hell, I picked Bioshock as GOTY and Metroid Prime 3 as my Wii GOTY over Mario Galaxy. That shows where my preferences are.

Orange Box is really hard to vote for. Its an amazing package, but the core game came out years ago.

But yeah, that was the interesting thing about 2007. There was really no ONE game that blew everything else away. Usually there's 2 or 3 games every year that are clearly above and beyond. 2007 had a ton of high-quality games that were really equally as great.

I find the whole idea of separating action and adventure into these two separate genres to be too anal, most of the time. These are all games that take you on an adventure. And on that adventure, there's usually some action involved. So really, they're all action/adventure games and I think most people consider them that way.

Hell, Devil May Cry was born out of Resident Evil and influenced by Castlevania. God of War has more adventure than most games.

I find the whole idea of separating action and adventure into these two separate genres to be too anal, most of the time. These are all games that take you on an adventure. And on that adventure, there's usually some action involved. So really, they're all action/adventure games and I think most people consider them that way.

Hell, Devil May Cry was born out of Resident Evil and influenced by Castlevania. God of War has more adventure than most games.

EdgecrusherAza

That's it.. the mikami formula... this guy knows that about 90% of people who play videogames like to shoot and kill zombies, demons, dinosaurs, ganados...etc. for some reason it satisfies us.

Those my friend are action games.

COD4 huh? Great game, I pop it in for some deathmatch action all the time. They managed to do what most of these shooters with online multi-player fail to do; make sure it has high fun factor.

I wouldn't pick it for GOTY though. Single-player wasn't good enough for that imo. I guess in a year with so many high quality games, it really all comes down to prefered style. Hell, I picked Bioshock as GOTY and Metroid Prime 3 as my Wii GOTY over Mario Galaxy. That shows where my preferences are.

EdgecrusherAza

What is shows is that you have the intelligence to pick what you personally liked, critical consensus be damned. There is no definitive right or wrong here, just our respective personal reactions to what we've played. I own both of the games you mentioned and both are AAA, GOTY material so the rest of it becomes a matter of personal taste.

I personally thought Assassin's Creed was the most starkly original and amazing experience of the year but god knows quite a few people flatly hate that game so what can you do? You've played enough games and have enough sense to know what you like.

GOTY often becomes something akin to masturbation without the payoff.

[QUOTE="EdgecrusherAza"]

COD4 huh? Great game, I pop it in for some deathmatch action all the time. They managed to do what most of these shooters with online multi-player fail to do; make sure it has high fun factor.

I wouldn't pick it for GOTY though. Single-player wasn't good enough for that imo. I guess in a year with so many high quality games, it really all comes down to prefered style. Hell, I picked Bioshock as GOTY and Metroid Prime 3 as my Wii GOTY over Mario Galaxy. That shows where my preferences are.

Grammaton-Cleric

What is shows is that you have the intelligence to pick what you personally liked, critical consensus be damned. There is no definitive right or wrong here, just our respective personal reactions to what we've played. I own both of the games you mentioned and both are AAA, GOTY material so the rest of it becomes a matter of personal taste.

I personally thought Assassin's Creed was the most starkly original and amazing experience of the year but god knows quite a few people flatly hate that game so what can you do? You've played enough games and have enough sense to know what you like.

GOTY often becomes something akin to masturbation without the payoff.

Well ubisoft did an excellent job making us feel like spider man when playing as altair except that they forgot that the sole pupose of videogames is to have fun. Assassins Creed did have an excellent control system but the game is too boring to deserve any award.

[QUOTE="D3s7rUc71oN"]

I agree with you, though I haven't played Motorstorm I don't get how a barebones racing game manages to beat Forza 2 a game with so much content and depth, that offer customizations, tweaks to your cars and much more. I guess the game is niche or not for everybody (hardcore)

Edit: How about fighting game of the year?. I'm surprised Call of Duty 4 won so many awards. Nintendo fans are going to be outraged :P

CarnageHeart

Motorstorm is a superb racing game. Like I said when it came out, its kind of like a mix of Burnout, Road Rash and Sega Rally. Its a wildly over the top racer which offers tracks which often offer motorcycles atvs, semis, SUVs dune buggies, heavy trucks and cars the same chance at victory. The high quality of the core gameplay makes online play tremendously entertaining since giving an opponent a gentle nudge (or heck, a hard push) into a wall or over a cliff is always good for a laugh, and punching a fellow biker off his or her vehicle never gets old.

Granted, the load times are overly long and the game shipped with too few modes but that aside...

Forza 2 is a fine sim (the most popular type of racers, thought that may be changing) but its an extremely conservative sequel (even the graphics aren't a big step up).

I find the whole idea of separating action and adventure into these two separate genres to be too anal, most of the time. These are all games that take you on an adventure. And on that adventure, there's usually some action involved. So really, they're all action/adventure games and I think most people consider them that way.

Hell, Devil May Cry was born out of Resident Evil and influenced by Castlevania. God of War has more adventure than most games.EdgecrusherAza

The core conventions of Action and Adventure genres are pretty clear. However, over the years, designers have been making games that are less 'pure' examples of these and other genres, as it has become more common practice to take elements from all of the various core genres out there, and integrate them into games to give the game varying levels of depths and demands from the player (such as, say, adding character growth/development systems in an RPG-like fashion to require the player not only play with skill, but also effectively build their character to be able to address the conflicts within the game).

However, the core convention of the adventure genre isn't about being taken on an 'adventure' per say, so that's not quite something I'd use to identify a game in that realm. That being said, one could possibly argue to me that Mario was an action/adventure game...but classifying it as an 'adventure' game alone just doesn't fit right, especially since there are other games that are more closely fitted into that genre (Namely in the realm of Phoenix Wright or Zack & Wiki, though even these are departures from the core adventure design scheme to a degree) than some of the ones chosen. However, at least all the candidates in their 'adventure' catagory had enough similarities with eachother in general design conventions (as far as I could tell) to at least make them comparible...even if at a semantics level, adventure was probably not the best choice of word to describe the genre these games were in.

*shrugs* I know I'm taking things a bit far, but I like analyzing/deconstructing design conventions in this manner.

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"][QUOTE="EdgecrusherAza"]

COD4 huh? Great game, I pop it in for some deathmatch action all the time. They managed to do what most of these shooters with online multi-player fail to do; make sure it has high fun factor.

I wouldn't pick it for GOTY though. Single-player wasn't good enough for that imo. I guess in a year with so many high quality games, it really all comes down to prefered style. Hell, I picked Bioshock as GOTY and Metroid Prime 3 as my Wii GOTY over Mario Galaxy. That shows where my preferences are.

gamingqueen

What is shows is that you have the intelligence to pick what you personally liked, critical consensus be damned. There is no definitive right or wrong here, just our respective personal reactions to what we've played. I own both of the games you mentioned and both are AAA, GOTY material so the rest of it becomes a matter of personal taste.

I personally thought Assassin's Creed was the most starkly original and amazing experience of the year but god knows quite a few people flatly hate that game so what can you do? You've played enough games and have enough sense to know what you like.

GOTY often becomes something akin to masturbation without the payoff.

Well ubisoft did an excellent job making us feel like spider man when playing as altair except that they forgot that the sole pupose of videogames is to have fun. Assassins Creed did have an excellent control system but the game is too boring to deserve any award.

I had endless fun playing the game personally. I plan to revisit it soon, even with my insane backlog of quality titles ever growing.

And the verticality of the city, along with the way you can traverse it, is light years beyond anything offered in the Spiderman games or anything else for that matter. The game does employ a narrow scope but what it does it does better than any other title I've played to date.

Action/adventure is the main genre, action is a sub genre of it.dvader654

Action is the main genre that encompasses all kinds of action games including action/adventure, FPS, platformer, fighting, etc.

I find the whole idea of separating action and adventure into these two separate genres to be too anal, most of the time. These are all games that take you on an adventure. And on that adventure, there's usually some action involved. So really, they're all action/adventure games and I think most people consider them that way.

Hell, Devil May Cry was born out of Resident Evil and influenced by Castlevania. God of War has more adventure than most games.EdgecrusherAza

Action and adventure are two seperate genres, there's no two ways about it. Just because a lot of people don't hesitate to lump action/adventure and adventure games into the same pile doesn't make them correct and it's an issue that annoys me endlessly. Adventure games were huge in the 80's and 90's mainly on PC, but just because they became obscure nowadays doesn't mean we can start branding games as adventure when they are clearly not. Adventure games DO NOT contain any action whatsoever, they are focused solely on storytelling and puzzle solving.

Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Castlevania and God of War have absolutely nothing in common with Broken Sword, The Longest Journey, Grim Fandango and Myst.

of course it's better... I mean the ability to climb almost any object... You're easy to please Grammaton-Cleric :P

I liked Assassin's Creed quite a bit too. In a way, it reminded me of Shenmue, in that sure it had some serious flaws, but the originality of the game and the great atmosphere were more than enough to overcome them and appreciate it for what it was.EdgecrusherAza

The original Shemue was a brilliant game and in many ways ahead of its time.

The think the flaws in a game like Shenmue or Assassin's Creed are the inevitable growing pains that accompany true innovation. Generally you can't innovate without taking some risks and sometimes those risks don't pay off. There were issues that hurt the overall integrity of Assassin's Creed but, like you said, I think the overall design and quality of the game made them forgivable. I also think the sequel to Assassin's Creed has the potential to be something remarkable.

Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Castlevania and God of War have absolutely nothing in common with Broken Sword, The Longest Journey, Grim Fandango and Myst.UpInFlames

Yes, it isn't like traditional adventure games, but it is an action/adventure game that does show clear roots and conventions that are taken from traditional adventure games.

yeah games which are action alone or adventure alone are hard to find but dvader, you're favourite game which is RE4 is an action game... a pure action game because it lacked both exploration and puzzling* don't count the insgnia puzzle please!* anways don't wanna talk about that :P But devs tend to combine genres to richen the gameplay.

The history of how action/adventure started doesn't matter now, action/adventure is now one giant genre. Everything from DMC to MGS to Zelda to Mario to GoW to Uncharted to GTA to Resident Evil are all action/adventure from there they get split up into their sub genres like free roaming, pure action, platforming, etc. dvader654

And of course history matters in relation to where we are now...that's what makes it so much easier to identify these traits of gameplay designs, and how they relate and integrate into current game designs. You don't have to care about it, but to say that the history of this stuff is meaningless is rather short-sighted, IMHO.

of course it's better... I mean the ability to climb almost any object... You're easy to please Grammaton-Cleric :P

gamingqueen

And yet, I'm often considered an elitist... go figure.

I also really loved the combat. At first I thought it was too simplistic but once more skills and weapons became available I really started to love the variety that could be employed when dispatching the enemies.

But yes, to be fair, if climbing and sword fighting ALOT isn't your thing AC probably won't keep you interested. (Mission variety needs to be expanded upon a great deal in the sequel)

And if you didn't personally like the game, you know what? That's cool too. ;)

I'm gonna have to stop you there, simply because at the very least, Resident Evil at its initial core does carry elements that relate back to adventure game conventions, in the form of its focus on a non-linear world construction, exploration, and puzzle solving to advance further in the game, in addition to the combat that one had to engage in.

Yes, it isn't like traditional adventure games, but it is an action/adventure game that does show clear roots and conventions that are taken from traditional adventure games.Skylock00

My bad there, the older Resident Evil's do incorporate adventure elements moreso than the other games. I was thinking of Resident Evil 4.

[QUOTE="EdgecrusherAza"]I liked Assassin's Creed quite a bit too. In a way, it reminded me of Shenmue, in that sure it had some serious flaws, but the originality of the game and the great atmosphere were more than enough to overcome them and appreciate it for what it was.Grammaton-Cleric

The original Shemue was a brilliant game and in many ways ahead of its time.

The think the flaws in a game like Shenmue or Assassin's Creed are the inevitable growing pains that accompany true innovation. Generally you can't innovate without taking some risks and sometimes those risks don't pay off. There were issues that hurt the overall integrity of Assassin's Creed but, like you said, I think the overall design and quality of the game made them forgivable. I also think the sequel to Assassin's Creed has the potential to be something remarkable.

The joys of "Jumping In" a bit late on things - the backlog. ;)

[QUOTE="UpInFlames"]Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Castlevania and God of War have absolutely nothing in common with Broken Sword, The Longest Journey, Grim Fandango and Myst.Skylock00

Yes, it isn't like traditional adventure games, but it is an action/adventure game that does show clear roots and conventions that are taken from traditional adventure games.

I agree. Before RE4 hit the scene, the RE franchise was based heavily on exploration and adventure conventions.

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]

[QUOTE="EdgecrusherAza"]I liked Assassin's Creed quite a bit too. In a way, it reminded me of Shenmue, in that sure it had some serious flaws, but the originality of the game and the great atmosphere were more than enough to overcome them and appreciate it for what it was.Skylock00

The original Shemue was a brilliant game and in many ways ahead of its time.

The think the flaws in a game like Shenmue or Assassin's Creed are the inevitable growing pains that accompany true innovation. Generally you can't innovate without taking some risks and sometimes those risks don't pay off. There were issues that hurt the overall integrity of Assassin's Creed but, like you said, I think the overall design and quality of the game made them forgivable. I also think the sequel to Assassin's Creed has the potential to be something remarkable.

The joys of "Jumping In" a bit late on things - the backlog. ;)

Do you guys have many sales overseas or do they stick it in and break it off with game prices at all times?

The reason I ask is because Assassin's Creed has been on sale here in the States several times for well under $40 U.S.

Regardless, I'd be curious to read your thoughts on the game once you played it.

I agree. Before RE4 hit the scene, the RE franchise was based heavily on exploration and adventure conventions.Grammaton-Cleric

One thing this sort of thinking has done has made it easier for me to identify what kinds of games I ultimately enjoy more than others, and why. :)

climbing and sword fighting isn't mything? Huh well I find pop games to be alot better than assassin's creed even though the second game got more praise than it deserved. Assassin's Creed had many good ideas but something went wrong when those ideas were implemented. gamingqueen

What I meant was if those elements, as they were presented in the game, didn't speak to you then you'd run out of interest pretty fast.

I liked the combat because it struck me as being very realistic.

POP is an awesome series as well by the way.

Do you guys have many sales overseas or do they stick it in and break it off with game prices at all times?

The reason I ask is because Assassin's Creed has been on sale here in the States several times for well under $40 U.S.

Regardless, I'd be curious to read your thoughts on the game once you played it.

Grammaton-Cleric

For now, though, Mass Effect has been taking up a bit of my time, and while there are issues in many smaller points (pacing issues between plot and non-plot planets, load time and texture load in issues, etc.), the core game itself is fun enough, and it's a game where understanding the character development system can result in very enjoyable min/max builds, and getting a lot out of the combat without requiring very taxing play approaches to get the result you want...which is something I enjoy in RPGs. :)

[QUOTE="gamingqueen"]climbing and sword fighting isn't mything? Huh well I find pop games to be alot better than assassin's creed even though the second game got more praise than it deserved. Assassin's Creed had many good ideas but something went wrong when those ideas were implemented. Grammaton-Cleric

What I meant was if those elements, as they were presented in the game, didn't speak to you then you'd run out of interest pretty fast.

I liked the combat because it struck me as being very realistic.

POP is an awesome series as well by the way.

did you really enjoy fighting with the guards :? ? I only played AC once... I don't intend to play it again... Pop games were like a roller-coaster ride...

Did anyone voting on these know anything about games at all?

I was going to poke fun at how flawed those are but i dont know where to start.

^^ I think Grammaton confused the two of us. I'm the one from Europe! *waves* :wink:

^^ I think Grammaton confused the two of us. I'm the one from Europe! *waves* :wink:

UpInFlames

Man, all this talk about genre conventions made me remember my extensive breakdown of how to interpret RPG's...that's a fun one to think over. :P

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]I agree. Before RE4 hit the scene, the RE franchise was based heavily on exploration and adventure conventions.Skylock00

One thing this sort of thinking has done has made it easier for me to identify what kinds of games I ultimately enjoy more than others, and why. :)

As this medium continues to expand and grow, the genres will continue to mix and cross over so ultimately I think more dissection and analysis of the core genres would be something not only worth reading but also worth publishing. We could use more academic analysis of videogames in general and hopefully, as this medium gains legitimacy as a viable artistic form of expression, there will be more places to publish and discuss such concepts.

If you wrote it, I'd most certainly read it.